Imagine the concern if a child told a teacher she’s hungry. There would calls for government to “do something.” So why is there no concern over new federal school lunch requirements that are leaving some kids hungry — all in the name of fighting obesity?
The biggest part of the problem with the new school lunch is the reduced amount of protein from meat in the meal from previous years, says Brenda Kirkham, art and publications teacher at Wallace County High School. She came up with the idea of theWe Are Hungry video (set to the tune of fun.’s We Are Young) because she felt like she was “starving” after lunch.
“We wanted to give kids a voice and make fun of something that’s very frustrating for us — but not be over-the-top angry.”
Linda O’Connor, an English teacher at Wallace High who wrote the lyrics for the song in the video, says students have been complaining all year that they’re not being offered enough food. “Most of our kids are active in physical education and sports, and they work on farms. That two ounces of meat daily wasn’t enough. By 1:30 to 2 o’clock they complain about how hungry they are.
